The Rays could be on the docket for a new jersey this season.
The Rays are expected to be in the final wave of Nike’s City Connect jerseys this season, with an announcement of which teams will be featured not anticipated until after the season begins.
Yes, that’s right, Nike and the Rays have not officially announced a City Connect is coming for the club, but that is no cause for concern. Each of the jersey drops in the series is meant to be a surprise, surely meant to drum up sudden excitement and perhaps an influx of jersey orders by eventizing their release.
Therefore, as you can imagine, IF the Rays are releasing a new jersey this year, what those jerseys will look like is a closely guarded secret.
We can presume they would be designed in collaboration between a few individuals at Nike, Rays owner Stu Sternberg, and the team’s Creative & Brand department, which means these theoretical jerseys might only be known to less than 10 people until they are ordered for mass production.
It’s fun to imagine what’s possible for a potential new jersey for the Rays, as the City Connect series has adopted key landmarks, themes, and typography from the geographic area. Will the new jerseys have new colors, like an orange hat, to reflect the orange-lit dome of Tropicana Field (a suggestion from DRB writer Jared Ward?).
Could the jerseys — dare I dream — say the words, “TAMPA BAY” on them?
One member of the baseball tiktok community, Cameron Guzzo, has embarked on a series imagining what the remaining City Connect jerseys will look like, and he offered an imaginative take on what the Rays jersey could be:
@attheballpark Here’s what I came up with for a Tampa Bay Rays City Connect uniform! The Rays should be getting a City Connect this season, so what would you want to see featured on it? #rays #tampabayrays #mlb #baseball (Rays City Connect jersey)
♬ sail away (instrumental) - lovelytheband
Using the colors of the sand and water, and embracing the Ybor city signage, are both nice touches, but my favorite flourish is the rope-seal on the sleeve that reflects the iconography of the three primary city flags for Tampa Bay.
Cameron was kind enough to pass along some high resolution images of his imagined jersey, where you can see this detail:
What are you hoping to see in a Rays City Connect jersey?
